US marketplace. Rates reflect Amazon’s published 2026 rate cards, last verified August 2026. Confirm your own figures in Seller Central’s Fee Preview and FBA Inventory reports before acting on them.
You have four ways out of dead FBA inventory and they recover wildly different amounts. Discounting on your own listing recovers the most but takes time. Removal costs $0.84 to $14.32+ per unit and preserves the option to resell elsewhere. Disposal costs exactly the same as removal and recovers nothing. Liquidation returns roughly 5–10% of selling price before a 15% liquidation referral fee and a per-unit processing fee. The decision hinges on one comparison: what the inventory costs to keep versus what each route recovers net of fees — and the cost of keeping it jumps more than threefold the moment a unit crosses 271 days.
The expensive mistake is not picking the wrong exit. It is not deciding at all, and letting units age through surcharge tiers that escalate far more steeply than most sellers realise.
What does it actually cost to keep dead stock in FBA?
Four separate storage meters run simultaneously, and they stack.
Base monthly storage, per cubic foot
| Size tier | January–September | October–December |
|---|---|---|
| Standard size | $0.78 | $2.40 |
| Oversize | $0.56 | $1.40 |
| Standard, dangerous goods | $0.99 | $3.63 |
| Oversize, dangerous goods | $0.78 | $2.43 |
Storage utilisation surcharge
Applies when your average daily inventory volume is 25 cubic feet or more and your utilisation ratio — average daily inventory volume divided by average daily shipped volume over the past 13 weeks — exceeds 22 weeks. It only hits inventory aged over 30 days, and it replaces the base rate rather than adding to it.
| Utilisation ratio | Standard, Jan–Sep | Standard, Oct–Dec |
|---|---|---|
| Below 22 weeks | $0.78 | $2.40 |
| 22 to 28 weeks | $1.22 | $2.84 |
| 28 to 36 weeks | $1.54 | $3.16 |
| 36 to 44 weeks | $1.94 | $3.56 |
| 44 to 52 weeks | $2.36 | $3.98 |
| 52+ weeks | $2.66 | $4.28 |
New sellers within their first 365 days, Individual-plan sellers, and anyone below 25 cubic feet of average daily volume are exempt.
Aged inventory surcharge — the tier nobody warns you about
Charged on top of monthly storage once a unit has been in the network 181 days or more, assessed from an inventory snapshot on the 15th of each month.
| Days in fulfillment centre | Per cubic foot | Per-unit floor |
|---|---|---|
| 181 to 210 | $0.50 | — |
| 211 to 240 | $1.00 | — |
| 241 to 270 | $1.50 | — |
| 271 to 300 | $5.45 | — |
| 301 to 330 | $5.70 | — |
| 331 to 365 | $5.90 | — |
| 366 to 455 | $6.90 | $0.30, whichever is greater |
| 456 or more | $7.90 | $0.35, whichever is greater |
The 241-to-271-day boundary is the cliff. The rate goes from $1.50 to $5.45 per cubic foot — a 3.6× jump in a single month. Every other step in the ladder is incremental; this one is not. If you take away one date from this article, it is day 271, not day 181.
Two further details. The 181-to-270 tiers exclude clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry, and watches. And Amazon calculates the surcharge both per cubic foot and per unit in the top two bands, then charges whichever is higher — so low-volume, high-count inventory is not protected by being small.
What does each exit route cost and recover?
Removal and disposal fees, 2026
Removal and disposal share an identical rate card. You pay the same whether Amazon destroys the unit or ships it back — which means disposal only makes sense when the unit genuinely has no recoverable value, since removal costs no more and preserves the option.
| Size tier | Shipping weight | Fee per unit |
|---|---|---|
| Standard size | 0 to 0.5 lb | $0.84 |
| Standard size | 0.5+ to 1.0 lb | $1.53 |
| Standard size | 1.0+ to 2.0 lb | $2.27 |
| Standard size | More than 2 lb | $2.89 + $1.06/lb above 2 lb |
| Bulky / extra-large / special handling | 0 to 1.0 lb | $3.12 |
| Bulky / extra-large / special handling | 1.0+ to 2.0 lb | $4.30 |
| Bulky / extra-large / special handling | 2.0+ to 4.0 lb | $6.36 |
| Bulky / extra-large / special handling | 4.0+ to 10.0 lb | $10.04 |
| Bulky / extra-large / special handling | More than 10.0 lb | $14.32 + $1.06/lb above 10 lb |
Special handling covers apparel, shoes, watches, jewelry, and dangerous goods. The 0-to-0.5 lb standard band dropped from $1.04 to $0.84 on January 15, 2026 — a deliberate nudge toward removing light inventory earlier, and it shifts the arithmetic in favour of removal over liquidation for small items.
The other 2026 change is billing timing. From March 1, 2026 removal and disposal fees are charged per unit as each unit is actually processed, rather than as one charge at order creation. The rates are unchanged; a 600-unit removal now generates dozens of small charges spread over days. Plan the reconciliation accordingly.
The four routes compared
| Route | Cost | Typical recovery | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discount on your own listing | Margin given up; possible price-history damage | 40–70% of normal selling price | Demand still exists and you have runway before the 271-day cliff |
| Removal to your address or a 3PL | $0.84–$14.32+ per unit, plus inbound handling | Full value if you have another channel | Product has value off-Amazon, or units need inspection and repackaging |
| Amazon Liquidations | 15% liquidation referral fee on gross recovery, plus a processing fee from $0.25 for standard units under 0.5 lb up to about $1.90 + $0.20/lb for large bulky over 10 lb | 5–10% of selling price | Volume is large, unit value is low, and you have no alternative channel or time |
| Disposal | Same rate card as removal | Nothing beyond a tax write-off | Damaged, expired, recalled, or worth less than the removal fee |
| FBA Grade and Resell | Per-unit fee | Partial value on returned units resold in used condition | Customer-returned units are functional but no longer sellable as new |
Liquidation fees were left unchanged for 2026, while removal fees fell for light items — which quietly made removal the better option for a band of inventory where liquidation used to win.
How do you run the comparison?
Take 600 units of a large standard-size product: landed COGS $7.40, normal selling price $27.99, weight 1.25–1.5 lb, 0.09 cubic feet per unit, currently 210 days old. Utilisation ratio below 22 weeks, so base storage applies.
Cost of holding them another six months. The inventory occupies 54 cubic feet. Base storage runs $42.12 a month off-peak and $129.60 a month during October–December. But the aged surcharge is the real cost: the units pass 240 days in September, 270 in October, and cross into the $5.45 band in November.
| Month | Unit age | Base storage | Aged surcharge |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | ~240 days | $42.12 | $54.00 |
| October | ~270 days | $129.60 | $81.00 |
| November | ~300 days | $129.60 | $294.30 |
| December | ~330 days | $129.60 | $307.80 |
| January | ~360 days | $42.12 | $318.60 |
| February | ~390 days | $42.12 | $372.60 |
| Total | $515 | $1,428 |
$1,943 to hold 600 units for six months, with no guarantee of selling them — and $4,438 of landed COGS already sunk into them. Note that the aged surcharge is nearly three times the base storage cost. Sellers who model “storage fees” and stop there are seeing a quarter of the picture.
Against that, the four exits:
| Route | Gross recovery | Fees | Net | Per unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discount to $16.99, sells over 10 weeks | $10,194 | Referral $1,530 + fulfillment $3,366 + storage and surcharge ~$240 | $5,058 | $8.43 |
| Removal at $2.27/unit, resold via a discount channel at $12 | $7,200 | Removal $1,362 + inbound handling ~$400 + channel fees ~$1,080 | $4,358 | $7.26 |
| Liquidation at 8% recovery | $1,344 | 15% liquidation referral $202 + processing ~$0.90/unit $540 | $602 | $1.00 |
| Disposal | $0 | $1,362 | −$1,362 | −$2.27 |
The ranking is typical: discounting on-platform wins when demand exists, removal-and-resell is a close second when you have a channel, liquidation is a distant third, and disposal is a last resort. The reason sellers still choose liquidation is that it requires no handling, no second channel, and no time — and for a seller with 40 dead SKUs and no operations team, the practical alternative to liquidation is often doing nothing, which costs $1,943.
When is disposal the right answer?
Disposal beats every other route in a narrow set of cases: the unit is expired, damaged, recalled, or non-compliant; the recoverable value is below the removal fee; or the product is heavy enough that removal plus inbound freight exceeds anything you could sell it for. For a bulky item over 10 lb carrying a $14.32+ removal fee and a realistic resale value of $10, disposal is genuinely cheaper.
Disposal also produces an inventory write-off with a tax effect. That is real but it is a fraction of the cost basis, not a recovery — do not let it drive the decision.
How do you decide before it becomes a dead-stock problem?
- Set the review trigger at 150 days and the action deadline at 240. The 181-day threshold gets all the attention, but the first three tiers are cheap. The decision that matters is getting units out before they cross 271 days and the rate more than triples.
- Watch the 15th. The surcharge is assessed from a mid-month snapshot, so a removal completing on the 16th costs a full extra month at the higher tier. Submit with several days of buffer, and remember that per-unit processing since March 2026 means large orders clear progressively rather than all at once.
- Keep only what you will sell in one to two months. A workable default: if the projected aged surcharge plus 30 days of storage exceeds what the units would recover, the decision is already made.
- Use the pre-Q4 window. Base storage triples in October. Clearing slow movers in August and September costs materially less than clearing them in November, and it frees capacity for SKUs that will actually sell in peak.
To find the exact per-unit removal and disposal fee for a product, open Manage All Inventory, find the product, use the fee preview and Calculate Revenue, then review the removal and disposal fees in the detailed breakdown. The FBA Inventory tool flags which SKUs will hit the next surcharge tier within 60 days.
Common mistakes
- Treating 181 days as the danger line. It is the trigger, not the cliff. The cliff is 271 days, where the rate jumps from $1.50 to $5.45 per cubic foot.
- Modelling storage without the aged surcharge. In the worked example above the surcharge is nearly three times base storage. Any hold-versus-clear calculation that omits it will recommend holding.
- Using stale removal fees. Rate cards from before January 2026 are still widely republished. The light standard band is now $0.84, not the $1.04 most guides still show.
- Treating COGS as recoverable. The money spent on the inventory is gone regardless of route. The only live question is which route recovers most from here — sunk cost has no place in the comparison.
- Deep-discounting on the main listing without considering price history. For a SKU you intend to keep selling, a time-boxed deal or an outlet route may protect buyer price expectations better than a permanent cut. Amazon Outlet requires a minimum 20% discount.
- Removing to a home address without a plan. Removal only beats liquidation if you have somewhere to sell the units. Boxes in a garage recover nothing and cost the removal fee.
The comparison only works if you can see age, accumulated storage and surcharge cost, and recoverable value per SKU in one place. Profit analytics tools such as sellerboard surface inventory age alongside the carrying cost each SKU has actually accrued, which turns the exit decision into arithmetic rather than a guess.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Amazon Liquidations actually pay?
Typically 5–10% of the product’s selling price as gross recovery, before a 15% liquidation referral fee on that recovery and a per-unit processing fee running from $0.25 for standard items under 0.5 lb up to roughly $1.90 plus $0.20 per lb for large bulky items over 10 lb. Net proceeds on a $40 product commonly land between $2 and $8 per unit.
Is disposal cheaper than removal?
No — they use an identical rate card. Removal costs the same and gives you the units back, so disposal only makes sense when the units have no recoverable value or would cost more to handle than they are worth.
When does the aged inventory surcharge start, and when does it get expensive?
It starts at 181 days at $0.50 per cubic foot. It gets expensive at 271 days, where it jumps to $5.45 — a 3.6× increase over the preceding band. Most planning advice cites the 181-day trigger and misses the cliff.
How much are FBA removal fees in 2026?
Standard size: $0.84 for 0–0.5 lb, $1.53 for 0.5–1 lb, $2.27 for 1–2 lb, then $2.89 plus $1.06 per lb above 2 lb. Bulky, extra-large, and special-handling items run from $3.12 to $14.32 plus $1.06 per lb above 10 lb. Disposal uses the same card.
Should I liquidate before Q4 or hold for peak demand?
If the SKU has genuine seasonal Q4 demand, holding can be right — but model the tripling of base storage in October plus every surcharge tier the units will cross. If it is dead stock rather than seasonal stock, clearing before October is almost always cheaper.
Can I write off disposed inventory for tax?
Disposed inventory is generally written off at cost as inventory shrinkage. It reduces taxable income but recovers only a fraction of the cost basis, and the treatment depends on your inventory accounting method — confirm with your accountant.
